Monday/Tuesday

Monday was our second time at our new clinic in Chujuyub. We needed to get to Guatemala City in the afternoon, so we were a little pressed for time, but still saw 33 patients. One was our little cleft palate baby from out there, who was in for a bit more formula. His mother originally didn't have very much breast milk, but between attempting to breastfeed and using the breast pump we gave her, she seems to be making quite a bit now.

Also, we got a chance to see a patient again who presented with a very bizarre history the first time. We took a guess and figured that they were describing some quite atypical seizures, started him on seizure meds, and found that on quite a low dose of seizure meds, the attacks have basically completely stopped. We'll give God credit on that one, we still have no clear idea of what exactly the family was describing. But they're very thankful and were quite sure they wanted more of the meds we gave them.

After clinic, we returned to the house, dropped off our meds, met with David and Juan (who had driven in from Canilla to work on the water piping in the new addition), and got on the road to Guatemala City. See, they're widening the road between Xela and Guate and it's only open for 30 minutes out of every two hours. So we raced to the construction zone hoping to catch a break in the work and not have to sit for two hours. And we made it!

We got down to Guatemala City, checked into our hotel (after Isaac had been strapped into the car for over 6 hours in one day, he was DONE), then contacted the surgical team who will be operating on Rudy this week. Dr. Hollier, the husband of Heidi's residency program director, is the chief of pediatric plastic surgery at Texas Children's Hospital, and is heading up the team, so we had a very nice dinner with him. (See Pic #1).

This morning, we got up, went to check on Rudy and his family, drove past the National Palace (Pic #2), got some grocery shopping done, and headed home. David and Juan didn't get finished with the water lines yesterday, so they spent the night at the dorm and finished them up today. The next step for the builders will be to pour the concrete floors. (Forgot to post a pic today - we'll do that tomorrow.)

Isaac's grandparents brought down lots of goodies with them, so we had "Christmas" this afternoon. (Pic #3).

We have a few items for your prayer lists now.

First, there were some Americans who flew into Canilla a week or so ago in their private plane to investigate some mission work possibilities. As they were leaving, their plane crashed - about 200 yards from the end of the runway. Duane and Leslie were trying to have a date night in Guatemala City but made the emergency flight home. Thank God no one was seriously hurt, but the plane was completely destroyed. The boys spent two days recovering the wreckage and are now awaiting news from the US on what to do with the plane. Please offer prayers of thanksgiving that no one was seriously hurt, prayers for healing on the passengers who were hurt, and prayers for wisdom on what to do next.

Second, please pray for Rudy (his surgery is Wednesday) and for his surgical team. Also, Heidi has a breast biopsy tomorrow (not on her, a surgery she has to perform on someone else). Please pray for everything to come out okay on that, too.

Third, we ask you to pray for Katie. She had an unfortunate diaper changing accident last week and bopped her lip pretty good. She and Aaron are flying to the US this week for a whirlwind tour of wedding receptions and we need Katie to look good for her pictures. Actually, ALL of the Fickers (minus David, Leslie, and the babies) are going up for the receptions. Please pray for Leslie to have an easy week with the girls. Abby and Grace are very active little girls (2 and 3 years old) and will likely be quite a handful for Leslie there more or less by herself.